Slipping off the Euro-map. Would that be best for the north of England? Photograph: Getty

The dust is starting to settle after the historic vote amongst MPs in Parliament on Monday over whether or not there should be a referendum of the British people on the country's future relationship with the European Union.

The debate came about because I asked the recently-formed Backbench Business Committee to give this matter Parliamentary time as many hundreds of thousands of people had signed petitions asking for a referendum on this important issue and it was quite clear that there was also support from millions of people up and down the country too.

Some people opposed my motion on the grounds that now would not be the "right time". However, the motion I tabled called on the Government to start the process of holding a referendum and it was never the case that a referendum would be held now.

Almost two-thirds of the United Kingdom electorate have never had the opportunity to vote on whether or not Britain should be in a Common Market and most certainly not on our relationship with the European Union in its current form. The House of Commons Library has calculated that the estimated number of those alive today who voted 'yes' back in the last referendum in 1975 is approximately 8 million. This represents just 16% of the current voting-age population – leaving a staggering 84% who have never voted in favour of Britain's continued membership of the EU.

I accept that people do not always raise the issue of the European Union as their top concern. However, many of their other big concerns – such as immigration and jobs – are very much intertwined with the relationship Britain has with the European Union. For example, Britain has no power to prevent EU immigration and so any policies about controlling immigration are limited to non-EU immigration which considerably reduces their scope and likely effect. Therefore, whatever your views on this subject the truth is that you could not really meaningfully change policy in this area whilst in the European Union as it is. There has been a one-way flow of power from the UK to the EU over nearly four decades and, for this reason, I believe our relationship with the European Union is THE issue of the day.

There appears to be a cosy consensus amongst all political parties who want to maintain the status quo of our relationship with the European Union. But this is not what the British people want. Opinion polls show that the majority of people want a different relationship with the European Union or to be out of it altogether. Certainly they want to have their say. Whilst I openly personally believe that Britain would be better off out of the European Union, there is ironically not a great split amongst most Conservative MPs at all. The only shades of grey for most concern whether we should strive to return some, most or all the powers that have been given away over the years.

David Cameron said on Monday: "We do not come to this place to give away powers that belong to the people, not to us. It is wrong that we did not have a referendum on Maastricht, Lisbon and those other treaties." I completely agree with him and believe that what he has identified as being "wrong" can be easily put right by holding a referendum now.

The whole issue of Britain's relationship with the European Union affects people in the North of England as much as it affects those in the South and, I believe, the clamour for a referendum on our EU membership will not go away. As I said in Parliament on Monday, those who want to prevent the British people having a say in a referendum may have won this battle but they have certainly not won the war – and the fight most definitely goes on.

David Nuttall is Conservative Member of Parliament for Bury North and this week proposed the motion in the House of Commons calling for a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union.

Is he right? Please join in. Labour's North West MEP Arlene McCarthy gives her view at midday